Ch.143143. Resolving for the New Year

[“Are you out of your mind? Going in that condition?”]

I still remember the look in Kyungsoo’s eyes. He was so dumbfounded, as if he thought I was completely insane.

To be honest, my whole body still creaks with pain. But I made a promise, and it would have been impossible to travel all the way to Seoul in this state.

That’s why I asked for his help.

At first, Kyungsoo was reluctant, but eventually he carried me on his back and ran at full speed.

A Jaeger of Kyungsoo’s caliber can travel faster than a train if he runs without stopping.

Thanks to him sacrificing his stamina, I was able to reach the White Dragon Guild.

I told him I’d repay him later and entered the White Dragon Guild.

Even just standing there for confirmation made me feel like all my strength was draining away.

And this was after I had replenished my energy as much as possible.

During this anxious wait, the person who came out of the White Dragon Guild was none other than Lee Chaerin.

She was momentarily taken aback when she saw me.

“My goodness! You came all the way from the hospital? How romantic.”

Then, looking at my appearance, she sighed.

“In hospital clothes? What were you thinking? You need to follow the dress code properly.”

She immediately got me properly dressed. Thanks to her, I was able to meet with Seol Yuhwa without any issues.

The highlight of the White Dragon Guild’s award ceremony was the White Dragon Person of the Year award.

The recipient was Si Woojin.

That monster of a man was shamelessly receiving the award with everyone’s applause.

[“In these times when humanity is suffering, and monsters have become more powerful, I’m fortunate to receive such a prestigious award. Well, truthfully, our Guild Master is more impressive than I am, but he’s probably tired of receiving this award. Next time, I’ll truly surpass his abilities.”]

I can hear his insincere, fake words. You’re planning to force Dokgo Jun into retirement at the cost of your own life, aren’t you?

“Jonghyun?”

That’s when it happened. Perhaps noticing something off about my expression, Yuhwa took my hand.

Huh? Has she always been this comfortable holding my hand?

She naturally placed her hand on mine and leaned her face closer.

“What’s wrong? You don’t look well.”

“Ah… I’m in pain… The aftereffects are still lingering.”

I brushed it off casually. But she’s surprisingly close.

When dating Seol Yuhwa before, it always felt like we were just friends hanging out, but now she was being much more intimate.

“Tell me if it’s too much. You pushed yourself because of me.”

“No, it’s fine. Really.”

“But I’m touched. Coming here despite being sick… I should be the one apologizing to you.”

Her expressions have become much stronger. Plus, she was holding my hand and not letting go.

I could feel her warm touch as we remained like that.

The closing ceremony ended with Dokgo Jun’s speech wrapping up the year.

[“As we feared, monsters have grown stronger through various methods. They disguise themselves as humans and conspire with humans to plot rebellion. We will thoroughly incinerate them and find peace once again. Thank you all for your hard work this year.”]

It was a calm speech, devoid of madness or anger. Applause erupted from all around, and finally the ceremony was over.

Seol Yuhwa supported me as I staggered out of the ceremony venue.

Just one hour. The after-party was scheduled to follow immediately, but Yuhwa and I were able to skip it.

I remember Dokgo Jun looking at me with bewilderment as I was being supported by Yuhwa.

“Are women that important to you? Well, I suppose that’s how desperate you need to be to get a woman. But is it really worth it?”

It was an incredibly complex question. Then he was dragged away by Chaerin.

It was probably a question that contained both suspicion about me turning into a monster and disbelief at my coming here today.

What I realized for certain was that this man was constantly targeting me.

I shouldn’t expect those suspicions to be resolved anytime soon.

Anyway, Seol Yuhwa offered to support me and take me home as I staggered.

But where did Kyungsoo go?

“He decided to join the after-party since he’s already here.”

“Ah, I see…”

Right, after all that effort, he deserves a drink. I understand. I forced him into this after all.

Thanks to that, Yuhwa would be with me until the after-party ended.

But what’s definitely changed is that Yuhwa has become more proactive.

“Jonghyun, does this mean you can rejoin the film club now?”

“Well, those mean seniors are gone now…”

“Join us. I’ll have more free time when I become a second-year too. We can watch movies together like before.”

I gazed at Seol Yuhwa as she spoke with a warm smile.

She’s pretty. She’s wearing the clothes I bought her before, but isn’t she cold? Just a sleeveless top with a cardigan—is that enough?

“Should we go buy some clothes?”

“With those shaky legs?”

Yuhwa’s words stabbed at my heart. It’s definitely too much to walk around.

But as I just mentioned, there’s a good way to resolve this and spend time together.

Movies.

However, since it’s the end of the year, most films showing are family movies or comedies, with just one blockbuster.

Normally I’d prefer the blockbuster, but in this situation, a family movie would be better.

Besides, even if it’s not as good as a comedy, it can still provide both emotion and entertainment.

So, with Yuhwa supporting me, I threw myself into the movie theater.

But annoyingly, the movie was terrible.

Direction, plausibility, entertainment—it lacked everything essential. A “three-without” movie. This isn’t some health food to brag about—who shows this kind of garbage during the holidays?

I wanted to enjoy it with Yuhwa, but it was a complete failure.

After the movie ended, I glanced at her nervously. I felt embarrassed for having chosen it.

But Seol Yuhwa was smiling brightly.

Did she enjoy it? Well, tastes do vary. Come to think of it, it was about 15 siblings, so maybe it resonated with Yuhwa who comes from a large family.

“How was the movie?”

“Ah~ It wasn’t good. Not all movies are enjoyable.”

Huh? So Yuhwa didn’t like it either? Then why is she smiling?

“But thanks to you, I’ve developed an interest in movies. I should thank you for that.”

“That’s good then. Oh, Kyungsoo just contacted me.”

Kyungsoo had enjoyed himself for about three hours and was now asking for our location.

It was time for Yuhwa and me to part ways.

We had a cup of coffee while waiting for Kyungsoo and chatted.

“Honestly, I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences this year. Really, too many.”

“Yeah, a lot has happened.”

We started talking about past events one after another.

“To be honest, I didn’t watch many movies before. I felt uncomfortable because we weren’t close back then.”

“You did seem cold.”

Seol Yuhwa revealing her inner thoughts like this?

I could never have imagined this before.

But now it’s possible.

It really has been an eventful year. And that year is now coming to an end.

There have been many changes. Things are unfolding differently from the future I knew.

On the positive side, the damage has been much less, and humanity hasn’t fallen into chaos.

But because the future has changed, I don’t know how things will turn out compared to what I knew.

Still, this is much better. Humanity still has much more capacity to defend itself.

Kyungsoo calls us over while drinking a hangover remedy.

“Dating while watching a movie—now’s the perfect time. Hah!”

He’s clearly in high spirits from the alcohol. Seol Yuhwa whispered to me as she supported me.

“I’m counting on you next year too.”

“Likewise.”

Now Kyungsoo became the one needing support, and Seol Yuhwa waved goodbye.

She smiles.

Seol Yuhwa smiles comfortably.

She’s definitely smiling more than before. This must also be a result of the changes.

In a few hours, the Bosingak bell will ring. A new year was about to begin.

As the Bosingak bell rang, my phone started blowing up.

Everyone was sending New Year’s greetings to each other.

Finally, it would be the year I become a second-year student, with guild experiences and training in various environments like water and air.

I’m looking forward to it.

Right now, it feels like I can do anything well. I fell asleep thinking about the hopeful new year ahead.

*

The Monster Apocalypse Group also holds a year-end party. Because they’re humans, not monsters.

But everyone’s expressions were worse than before.

The reason was obvious—their operations hadn’t been very successful.

Even though they had caused significant damage, the core forces remained completely intact.

Flowing Milky Way spoke gently to the executives who had their heads bowed.

“Raise your heads. We all share responsibility for this situation. What’s important is that we use these failures as collateral to develop further.”

“It could have gone well. But because of that strange monster!”

Park Jemun raised his head and vented his anger.

Jino reacted as well.

“Why does that monster help humans? At this point, shouldn’t we confront those bastards about it?”

“Things have been strange ever since that weird monster started helping them.”

Kwon Ahseon felt the same way.

Operations can fail, but external factors keep interfering.

Specifically, a monster.

A monster that should be their ally is now fighting on the human side.

Yoon Dongha questioned Flowing Milky Way.

“What exactly is its identity?”

“Even our informants are still analyzing it. I hear that even the three major guilds are fighting over whether it’s an ally or not.”

“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”

Morgan twirled her blonde hair. Astro beside her patted her head.

“Don’t worry. The enemy has counterattacked more than expected, but they can’t reverse the flow. We can bring them down within ten years.”

“That’s exactly right. But lately, we’ve been strangely unable to inflict damage. The monster side is also suffering losses with their newly created monsters. In other words, there’s a third force that neither we nor the monsters know about.”

“We need to deal with that monster first. According to my reports, it has saved so many people that Jaegers now respond positively when a monster saves humans.”

Park Jemun slammed the table.

Flowing Milky Way did the same.

“We’ve tried to investigate but couldn’t determine its identity. However, a prime suspect has emerged: Do Jonghyun. We don’t know if he’s connected to the monster or if he’s a ‘wrong’ human-monster. But this man is protected, and we’ve lost members of our group when we tried to attack him before. If we go after him recklessly, we’ll end up suffering instead.”

Flowing Milky Way offered an alternative approach.

“It appears to be helping monsters defeat us with its current image. But fundamentally, monsters are symbols of fear in this world. We’ll start by breaking that shallow alliance. Once isolated, we can kill it without any problems.”

“So our plan for the new year is to deal with this third-force monster.”

Yoon Dongha nodded.

They were making new plans for the new year.

However, Flowing Milky Way kept one fact to himself.

‘The Master clearly said he was interfered with every time new species of monsters appeared. Our targets are even being anticipated? The enemy knows our information.’

He wasn’t ruling out the possibility of a traitor.

Meanwhile, the Bosingak bell was ringing.

The new year was approaching. Everyone’s attention was on Bosingak, with wishes and hopes resounding from all directions.

But during this time, a very subtle break occurred.

A monster with a reaction so weak it couldn’t even be classified as F-grade briefly appeared and quickly disappeared.

This monster began to quietly survive in the mountains, driven solely by the instinct to “grow.”